YAmazing Race

Hello! Thanks for making it to the Send Me a Sign pit-stop on the YAmazing Race with MGnificent prizes! Since I'm not the first stop on the Exploding Flamingos, you probably know the drill by now -- This is a blog hop featuring a zillionty debut authors. We're giving away prize packs stuffed with ARCs, gift certificates, and all sorts of swag.

If you've stumbled on this post and are feeling a little lost -- skedaddle over to the Apocalypsie website where you'll find some helpful directions and links to the beginning.

Send Me a Sign by Tiffany Schmidt 

Mia Moore has spent her entire life looking for signs. A sign that she should get serious with her soccer-captain boyfriend. A sign that she’ll get the grades to make it into an Ivy-league school. A sign that the summer before senior year will be the best one ever.

But when Mia is diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia, the only sign she wants to see is that she will survive cancer. That she will get through a summer of intensive chemo and be able to go back to being the girl she’s always been—top student, part of the A-list crowd, and dating Ryan, the hottest guy at school.

And until she’s better—meaning no throwing up, no hospital stays, and definitely no wig—Mia doesn’t want anyone to know she has cancer. She doesn’t want her friends’ pity. And she certainly doesn’t want to start feeling something more than friendship for the one person who does know what she’s going through, her best friend Gyver. But the sicker Mia gets, the more she realizes that not even the clearest signs offer perfect answers, and in order to find out what happens in her life, she will have to find the courage to live it.


Done?
I know your brain is packed full from all the YAmazing/MGnificent Exploding Flamingo bookstops you visited before mine -- but I hope you paid attention, because you'll need to know a factoid from the synopsis above to answer the quiz and enter to win the prize packs.

Wait!
Want more chances to win stuff? Since you're here and everything, I might as well offer you an incentive to stay... or at least come back and visit.

Complete the Rafflecopter form below to enter to win a pre-order of Send Me a Sign.

Nothing Screams DOUBT Like a Blank Page

Every time I start a new writing project I’m convinced that I’ve completely forgotten how. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve faced a blank screen, part of me is convinced that THIS TIME will be the time I totally blow it. That everything before now is a FLUKE. And I will never, ever remember how to write a book again.

During this panic stage, I’m unusually susceptible to outside influences. This is when I’m convinced I should try things like Journaling From The Characters’ Perspective, Making Story Collages, and worst of all: OUTLINING.

I’m totally not judging these activities. I think they’re fabulous and super-useful for people whose names aren’t Tiffany Schmidt.

But despite knowing I’m the pajama-pantsiest of pantsers, I sat down yesterday morning and dutifully typed up Chapter 1 – then bullet pointed the things I wanted to happen in it.

I made it to Chapter 2 before I started squirming in my seat. By Chapter 3 I was checking Twitter and Facebook and pacing the kitchen. Chapter ? (yeah, I stopped numbering after 4) had me in full-body twitch mode, digging through the cabinets to try and discover where St.Matt had hidden the leftover jelly beans.

Luckily, by the time I got to Chapter ???? – Unknown Plan is Executed with Stuff & Scariness, I gave up. I woke up. (and part of me wanted to THROW UP – I really think I’m allergic to planning).

Then I did what I should have done all along – the thing that’s served me well on every other book…

I started writing the kissing scenes and dialogue first.

Sometimes you just have to know your writing style. And more importantly, BELIEVE in your process. It may not work for anyone else, but if it works for you, cling to it like a baby koala bear.

What’s yours?

The Lucky 7 Game!

When I'm mad at my dear, dear friend Scott Tracey, I call him Scottopher. It has more heft as a lecture name, don't you think? "Scottopher Tracey, get down here this minute! And no dessert for you!"

Well, Scottopher is getting All The Looks this morning & I'm not mailing him any of the cinnamon buns I made this week. What was he thinking tagging me in a writer chain letter? He knows how I feel about luck.*

My debut novel, Send Me a Sign, is ABOUT superstition--- if I break the chain, that's probably like spitting on a black cat or playing paintball in a funhouse mirror room.

So here are the rules (copied straight from Scott's post)

Open your most recent novel or work-in-progress.


Turn to page 7 or page 77.


Count 7 lines down.


Copy (or read aloud in a vlog post) the next 7 sentences…in their entirety.

No cheating or editing!!!


Then tag 7 more authors!

And here is my snippet -- it's an email my MC (Della) receives early in the book. And it's exactly seven sentences.

Della. I’m sorry. So sorry. I never meant for this to get out. I know I promised I’d delete it. I’m so sorry. So sorry.

This is from my current contemp WIP. Codename: Full Nuder**

Oh. And my seven people:

Victoria Schwab***

Kate Walton

Jessica Spotswood

Kathleen Foucart

Linda Grimes

Elisa Ludwig

Eve Marie Mont

*Scottopher, I’m not really mad. In case you were worried, which you weren’t because my anger is about as scary as a rage-filled cupcake.

** Yes, this does make me gigglefit EVERY time.

*** Remember that book I was raving about in my last post, The Archived? She's sharing from THAT!

Pre-Order Contest Winner

You may have noticed that I didn’t give my Best Book Ever on the contest page, but since I made you share yours, it would only be fair if I agonized over my own.

Since this is my blog, I’m not limiting myself to one. (I notice many of you didn’t limit yourselves to one either—I approve of this mini-rebellion!)

You may also notice that almost every single book that appears on my list was mentioned in the comments. That’s because my blog readers have excellent taste.

This isn’t a ranking—narrowing it down to ten was hard enough without ranking them. And if you asked me the same question tomorrow, I’d probably come up with a different list, but
AS OF THIS VERY MINUTE, my Best Books Ever are:

1) All of Austen. (My favorite changes daily. Usually it’s Emma. Or Pride & Prejudice)
2) The Truth About Forever – Sarah Dessen
3) Hunger Games —Suzanne Collins
4) Little Women — Louisa May Alcott
5) Anna & The French Kiss — Stephanie Perkins
6) The Archived — Victoria Schwab *
7) Drums, Girls, Dangerous Pie —Jordan Sonnenblick
8) Matilda — Roald Dahl
9) Anne of Green Gables — Lucy Maud Montgomery
10) Dairy Queen — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

*Yes, I’m a big, teasing, meanie. You all can’t read this until 1/13. But it is FABULOUS.

But you didn’t come here for reading recommendations (though, it’s not a bad consolation prize if you didn’t win) – without further delay, the winner of the SEND ME A SIGN pre-order and bracelet is: